Three-week national lockdown in Israel, health emergency extended for another month in Morocco, no more than 6 people in gatherings outside and outside in the UK… Everywhere around the globe, restrictive measures are increasing to try and curb the coronavirus epidemic that seems to speed up.
In Europe as well, the spread of Covid-19 is worrying and some people are sounding the alarm. This past September 12, in the Journal du Dimanche, six doctors and professors have urged to “blow the end of fun time” and avoid “private gatherings”.
This September 14, WHO has expressed again via WHO’s European Office Director Hans Kluge. He says in the upcoming months, especially this Fall, “It’s going to get tougher. In October, November, we are going to see more mortality” he said to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The number of new Covid-19 infections has been increasing for several weeks, but the number of deaths per day remains more or less stable. “It’s a moment where countries don’t want to hear this news, and I understand” Kluge added. He yet went on saying this pandemic “is going to finish, at one moment or another”.
As for the creation of a vaccine against coronavirus, Hans Kluge said “I hear the whole time, ‘The vaccine is going to be the end of the pandemic.’ Of course not! […] We don’t even know if the vaccine is going to help all population groups. We are getting some signs now that it will help for one group and not for the other” he explained.
The Belgian doctor also said: “The end of the pandemic is the moment that we as a community are going to learn how to live with this pandemic. And it depends on us and that’s a very positive message”.
Therefore, to try and agree on a five-year strategy, WHO Europe gathers all the fifty State Members on Monday September 14 and Tuesday 15.